People have been preoccupied with the idea of flight for centuries. The concept of slowing down the fall of gravity using air resistance has been disclosed in primitive forms as early as 4000 years ago. The basic idea of a parachute as we know it, was illustrated in an anonymous artifact dating back to 1470's during the Italian Renaissance, which portrays a man sustaining a controlled descent while being supported by a structure above his head. A more realistic model was further developed by Leonardo da Vinci which shows a man being sustained by a parachute with more realistically scaled proportions.
The modern parachute as we know it was invention in 1783 by Sebastien Lenormand, who also sustained the first public jump in the same year. Parachutes are continuously evolving, and advancements in technology and modern materials allowed for more efficient design and integration into various applications. Parachutes are used in modern times in a variety of applications, ranging from safety devices, to generating an airbrake and reduce the speed of a falling object. Depending on the task and the scale of usage, each parachute has various features and characteristics, however the general basic components and method of operation remain largely the same.
Most parachutes have a pull-string, which when activated releases the pilot chute. The pilot chute is a secondary parachute used to release the main parachute. The pull-string is attached to a spring-loaded canister which contains the compressed pilot chute. The force needed to expand a spring is directly proportional to the distance of travel and depending on the scale of the parachute it may require a substantial amount of force to pull. In applications where the parachute must be activated without human input, an automated system must be integrated. Furthermore, the spring canister requires a substantial amount of space which can be difficult to integrate in more compact storage items, such as backpacks. Drones have become increasingly popular in recent years, and widely available to the general public. The aerial equipment used in military and consumer applications is costly and as such it is not uncommon to have integrated safety devices to protect the hardware in case of a malfunction. Integrating a parachute into conventional drones, can be an expensive and complex task, however the present invention aims to solve some of these problems by disclosing a low profile compact and light weight ballistic parachute launcher with an integrated servo motor.